Tilley Wanderer hat review
Does your travel hat have a passport pocket? This all-weather hat offers UPF 50+ protection, and it even comes with an owner’s manual
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Is your bonce protected? Every good traveler has a great hat, and there are few greater than a Tilley. This addition to the Canadian travel brand’s range is the Wanderer, a sturdy cotton hat that’s designed to offer protection from the sun and much, much more.
Weathered look
The Wanderer looks old, and that’s the point. A weathered finish to the all-cotton construction gives the look of a hat that’s been places. We’re not sure about that, but such is the quality that it’s about to go places, for sure.
Passport pocket
On the inside of the Tilley Wanderer is a pocket big enough to store a passport. We’re not sure we’re brave enough to do that – what if it blows away? That could happen, though there is a shoe lace attached to keep it around your chin.
Sun protection
Aside from that pocket, the Tilley Wanderer offers a few useful features. UPF50+ sun protection rating is excellent – as high as it gets – and proved its worth in the deserts of Oman, where it was put through its paces in blazing sunshine. Worn on a hike, it got sweaty but remained relatively dry and airy. Good job.
Easy to stow
You can beat up the Wandered pretty well. Folded, and stuffed into a back pocket, it pops up in more-or-less the same shape as it started. This won’t go on forever; an old Tilley hat of ours is not what it was after five years of being folded and rammed into a backpack. But we’re happy with the Wanderer’s shape after two weeks away. There are poppers on the sides of the Wandered to pull up the side-rim, though we’re not entirely sure that’s a look we want. However, the Wanderer is hard to fault; hats off to Tilley for making its best travel hat yet.